Winter Park promotes assistant to head boys basketball coach

Don Blackmon replaces David Bailey, who won two state titles in seven years

July 10, 2013|By Brendan Sonnone, Orlando Sentinel

Winter Park did not look far to replace boys basketball coach David Bailey.

The school announced the hiring of Donald Blackmon, an assistant under Bailey last season, on Tuesday. Blackmon took over as the team's interim coach this offseason after Bailey took the head-coaching position at Timber Creek.

Bailey coached Winter Park for seven years, winning back-to-back state titles in 2010 and 2011 with a team led by current New Orleans Pelicans guard Austin Rivers.

"This is a fantastic program with a fantastic tradition," Blackmon said. "I know how a team without a coach in the summer can get lost in the shuffle, so I said I'd absolutely love the opportunity to cover the guys and run the summer.

"It wasn't about looking to be the head coach. Having those couple weeks of practice, a couple team camps, the stars aligned."

"It was not so much that he had been part of the program, but as he'd been working with the kids, we got a feel that works well with the kids, works well with our parents," Brown said. "This seems to be a good fit."

A former basketball and track coach at Cocoa Beach, Blackmon served as an assistant on the 2003-04 Class 3A state championship team before taking over as the head coach for two seasons. He was the director of men's basketball operations for four years at Stetson.

Winter Park went 17-11 last year and returns six varsity players, including four starters.